{"id":22650,"date":"2010-10-12T11:13:36","date_gmt":"2010-10-12T15:13:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=22650"},"modified":"2010-10-15T08:30:40","modified_gmt":"2010-10-15T12:30:40","slug":"men%e2%80%99s-ice-hockey-seeks-to-keep-momentum-going","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2010\/10\/men%e2%80%99s-ice-hockey-seeks-to-keep-momentum-going\/","title":{"rendered":"Men\u2019s Ice Hockey Seeks to Keep Momentum Going"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"<p>Senior<\/a>
Senior forward Andrew Olson is expected to help lead the team this year. Photo by Steven Slade<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The men\u2019s ice hockey team ended the 2009-2010 season with momentum, reaching the quarterfinals of the 2010 Atlantic Hockey Association playoffs before losing to the league\u2019s top-ranked team, Rochester Institute of Technology, in overtime.<\/p>\n

With nine of the team\u2019s top 10 scorers returning, starting goaltender Garrett Bartus entering his second year, and a group of speedy recruits arriving, head coach Bruce Marshall is optimistic about his team.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think we\u2019re making the right strides,\u201d he says. \u201cWe brought a lot of new kids in that we think can help us on the offensive side. We\u2019re hoping we can make the strides we\u2019ve wanted to make over the last few years but have fallen short of.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marshall will rely on the leadership of his eight seniors to move his team to improve on last year\u2019s 7-23-7 record, particularly forwards Andrew Olson (9 goals, 10 assists last year) and Jason Krispel (3 goals, 12 assists) on offense, and defender Stevie Bergin on defense.<\/p>\n

\"<p>Senior<\/a>
Senior Jason Krispel is an offensive threat. Photo by Steven Slade<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cAll of the seniors feel they\u2019ve left a lot undone and they don\u2019t want to leave like that,\u201d says Marshall. \u201cI think they really want to walk out of here feeling they\u2019ve taken the next step for the program.\u201d<\/p>\n

The challenges Marshall and his coaching staff outlined for the team at the end of last year for each student athlete to improve were taken to heart.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve seen a lot improvement in guys in their strength and core conditioning that hopefully will allow them to have a little bit more success than they\u2019ve had,\u201d he says. \u201cI think as a group they\u2019ve responded to the challenges we\u2019ve set for them. Collectively, we all have to make a difference. One of the biggest things is these kids were very resilient last year. We learned a lot about each other that allowed us to win the first playoff series and then take a team that went to the Frozen Four and really challenge them to the end. I think they\u2019re ready to be committed to everything that has to be done.\u201d<\/p>\n

The early part of the Huskies\u2019 schedule will provide a quick answer to how much the team has improved, with three road games against teams ranked in the Top 30 last year (Maine, Merrimack, and Union College) and back-to-back road games against RIT. The season began Oct. 9 at Maine.<\/p>\n

Marshall says opening up against Maine is like football going in and playing Michigan. \u201cWe don\u2019t try to veer away from challenges. We try to give the kids the best experience they can have, but we also want to be successful. We like the nucleus of kids we have.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"<p>Starting<\/a>
Starting goaltender Garrett Bartus returns to the net. Photo by Steve Slade<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Krispel and Olson will be joined on the front line by sophomore Sean Ambrosie (7 goals, 11 assists) and senior Justin Hernandez (8 goals, 5 assists). On the defensive side, Bergin will team with AHA All-Rookie Team member Alex Gerke, a sophomore, and junior Christ Waterstradt, who in addition to their defensive work combined for 10 points on four goals and six assists. Starting goaltender Garrett Bartus, who joined the Huskies midway through last season, returns in the net and looks to improve on his 3.26 goals against average and .900 save percentage.<\/p>\n

Marshall expects to get an injection of speed and scoring from several new Huskies with extensive junior hockey experience. Forwards Rui Encarnaco, Brant Harris, Billy Latta, Cole Schneider, and Jordan Sims will see action, he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking to sprinkle a lot of those guys into the line-up,\u201d Marshall says. \u201cThese guys all played junior hockey and all of a sudden you\u2019ve got the knapsack on your back going to classes, getting up at 7 o clock and lifting weights. There\u2019s always that period of adjustment, but there\u2019s always that learning curve.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the highlights of the season will be the Feb. 13 game against Sacred Heart University, an outdoor doubleheader with the women\u2019s ice hockey team at Rentschler Field in East Hartford. The event is part of the “Whalers Hockey Fest,” a 10-day series of outdoor games between professional, college, prep school, and high school teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be great for our program, when you think of the schools who have played outdoors like Boston College and Wisconsin,\u201d says Marshall. \u201cThe game is important to us. It\u2019s worth 2 points, whether it\u2019s indoors, outdoors, or on the moon.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the men\u2019s ice hockey schedule, go to the Athletics website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Head coach Bruce Marshall hopes to take the team to the next level this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[55],"class_list":["post-22650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-07 05:37:55","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22650"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22650\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22720,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22650\/revisions\/22720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22650"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=22650"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=22650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}